As demand for datapath capacity in communication networks using photonic switches continues to increase, new problems arise in trying to implement the networks than can meet such demand.
One such problem is achieving a low delay through a switch fabric of the photonic switches as control decisions and bandwidth adjustments need to be made quickly, i.e. for example a desired target of at least at the micro-second level. Another problem is trying to ensure a loss-less switch. Furthermore, due to lack of photonic buffering, synchronizing traffic for a large collection of servers that feed into the photonic switches can poses various challenges. A further problem is propagation delay between multiple photonic switches in the network. Another problem may be the control processing power that is needed for switch controllers that control the optical switches to ensure bandwidth assignment calculation can be performed in a submicro-second time frame.